Monday, January 21, 2013

CONGRESSMAN:
Here's Why I'm Introducing Legislation To Ban The Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin
- (www.businessinsider.com) The idea of minting a
trillion-dollar coin has picked up as an option that would allow the
Treasury to temporarily print money to pay the country's bills and work around
the debt ceiling. It has turned into a Twitter campaign (#MintTheCoin), and supporters have created a
petition urging the White House to mint it. Walden took interest in
proposing legislation to ban the option because he thought the idea of minting
a platinum coin to work around the debt ceiling was a particularly absurd idea
that exemplified "the problem of people in Washington not understanding
the reality" of the national debt. Walden also thought that if the
Treasury did mint the coin, it would lead to a "very inflationary"
period. "The notion that we could mint a trillion-dollar coin ...
and all of a sudden, your debt issue is gone — it's so absurd and laughable,
except people were being serious," Walden said. "This just has to
stop. So that's why we're drafting legislation today."

Good
luck figuring your new tax rate! - (money.cnn.com)
The legislation that edged
our country away from the alleged "fiscal cliff" isn't named
properly. Instead of calling it the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012,
Congress should have called it the Accountant Full Employment Act of 2012.
That's because the legislation, which supposedly doesn't increase taxes for
anyone other than "the rich" with adjusted gross incomes of $400,000
for a single filer and $450,000 for a married couple, made an already
incomprehensible tax system even more incomprehensible.

Bank
Settlement May Leave Tiny Slices of a Smaller Pie - (www.nytimes.com) IF you were hoping that things might be
different in 2013 — you know, that bankers would be held responsible for bad
behavior or that the government might actually assist troubled homeowners — you
can forget it. A settlement reportedly in the works with big banks will soon
end a review into foreclosure abuses,
and it means more of the same: no accountability for financial institutions and
little help for borrowers. Last week, The New York Times reported that
regulators were close to settling with 14 banks whose foreclosure practices had
ridden roughshod over borrowers and the rule of law. Although the deal has not
been made official and its terms are as yet unknown, the initial report said
borrowers who had lost their homes because of improprieties would receive a
total of $3.75 billion in cash.

Fitch
warns home prices overvalued - (www.housingwire.com)
Despite national home prices
increasing by more than 2%, the largest gain since before the market peak, Fitch
Ratings believes national prices are 10% overvalued. However, during
correction, home prices will likely drop by no more than 2% from today due to
inflation. Fitch reports technical factors behind the appreciation will
eventually mute growth in the future, much to the opposition of current market
predictions. The latest report from the
Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, for example, revealed
that home prices continued to rise in October with prices up 4.3% annually. While
Fitch agrees that it’s hard to not be upbeat with home prices on the rise,
indicating a healthy housing rebound, the ratings company is remaining cautious
in its outlook based on the past few quarters.